Rice 9, LSU 7

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Posted 7:36AM on Sunday, June 5, 2005

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Rice had timely hitting, strong pitching and solid defense and still barely won. The Owls beat LSU 9-7 on Saturday, staving off the Tigers who put up six runs in the eighth inning on a pair of three-run homers by Ryan Patterson and Blake Gill. ``We did everything right and we barely won,'' said Rice head coach Wayne Graham said. ``That's tough. Those guys can hit, and it was a great comeback by LSU.'' Jumping out ahead early, Rice scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning off of LSU starter Greg Smith. With one out, back-to-back singles by Clay Reichenbach and Adam Hale and a walk to Jordan Dodson loaded the bases. Pendleton drove in his first two runs, lining a double into left centerfield to give the Owls a 2-0 lead. Pendleton scored two pitches later on a squeeze bunt by Tyler Henley. The bottom of the order came through again for Rice (43-17) in the seventh inning. With one out, Hale lined a double and after a walk to Dodson, Pendleton again came through with a double down the right-field line for another two runs. ``I got lucky and ran into some,'' Pendleton said. ``I was just trying to put good swings on the bat and pick out good pitches to swing at. Luckily I did that and got some hits.'' A four-run seventh inning on only one hit and three LSU errors extended the Owls' lead to 9-1. Left-hander Joe Savery (8-4) picked up the victory, allowing only one run on seven hits and striking out ten. ``He was outstanding through seven (innings). His fastball was there early and they'd stick with the pitch that was working, going straight change and getting it over the plate. He was throwing downhill and did a great job,'' said LSU head coach Smoke Laval. Greg Smith (10-3) took the loss. With the win, the Owls advanced to the championship round of the regional on Sunday. They will play the winner of Sunday's elimination game between Northwestern State and LSU. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)